Sight
What we see depends mainly on what we look for. ~John Lubbock
A benighted creature who has the folly to worship something he can see and feel. ~Ambrose Bierce
~~o0o~~
Sight, the sense of sight or visual perception, describes the capability to detect electromagnetic energy within the visible range (light) by the eye, and the ability of the brain to interpret the visible light information as an image.
~~o0o~~
Sight was one of the few senses that hadn't been hammering at him since his transformation into a werewolf. Sometime before his change his eyesight had slowly been changing to werewolf levels. Not that there weren't adjustments that still needed to be made.
It wasn't an every weekend habit but Hardison had to admit it was becoming a regular thing. His arm was draped over Parker's shoulders as they took the door into the diner. They headed for their usual booth and Lydia the regular waitress brought them coffee and asked if they were having the usual. Hardison nodded with a smile but was distracted by a little girl that ran past the diner's windows. The motion caught his attention but even more it was the color. The little girl was wearing a red coat; and that flash of red as she darted past caused Hardison to jerk in his seat as he fought down his wolf's urge to chase.
"Maybe you should stick with decaf today hun." Lydia teased as she walked back to the counter.
Parker had a hand on his thigh and was pushing calmness through the bonds.
"Thanks babe, but I think I'm okay now." He kissed her temple.
A moment later the bell over the door jingled and Eliot came in. The diner was only a few blocks from the farmers' market and Eliot almost always joined them when he was done at the market. He set several cloth bags on the bench and under the table before he slid into his seat next to his purchases. "What's going on?"
"Nothing now. Just a kid running past the window." Hardison shrugged.
"Oh yah?" Eliot flipped his coffee mug right way up and waited for Lydia to come by with the coffee.
"The girl in the red jacket?" Parker asked.
Hardison nodded.
Before long conversation melted into what had happened at the market and what the plans were for the day. The food was brought to the table and Lydia commented on the amount of food that they always ate. Eliot complimented the cooking and her skill in getting it all to the table while it was still hot.
"Should we eat somewhere else next time?" Parker stole a French fry off of Eliot's plate.
"Nah." Eliot cut into his chicken-fried steak. "Unless you're tired of the food here."
"Well no. The food is fine."
Eliot could feel Parker's worry in the bonds. "Just 'cause we order a lot of food doesn't mean she'll think there's something supernatural going on."
"Are you sure?"
"People don't see things they aren't looking for and we haven't done anything that unusual."
~~o0o~~
Parker was upstairs on the phone with Sophie, and Eliot was sorting out his purchases in the kitchen. Hardison settled in behind one of his screens and started in on a basic internet search before he started hitting less public data bases.
By the time that Hardison was ready to give up on the publicly accessible side of things, Eliot came and sat next to him on the couch. Eliot laid his left arm over the back of the couch and put his right hand on the back of Hardison's neck. It had become a familiar gesture and one that Hardison drew a lot of comfort from.
"What are you working on?" Eliot frowned at Hardison's tablet. "The science of Red Riding Hood? What on earth is that? Or do I not want to know?"
Hardison set the tablet to the side. "It was useless junk is what it was." He leaned back against the couch and his wolf relaxed under Eliot's hand. "Something about the kid's jacket this morning bothered me. I mean part of it was that the kid ran past and I had that stupid urge to chase her but mostly it was something about the color."
"Red is sort of a trigger." Eliot smirked.
"Everything on the internet says that dogs are pretty much colorblind. Even wolves."
"You're not a dog." Eliot couldn't hide how funny he thought that was from the bonds even if his face hadn't changed expressions. "And wolves and werewolves aren't the same thing either, even if we do share a lot of traits."
"In my wolf form I know I've seen red, and purple and blue are pretty vivid, but yellows and greens are sometimes a little off."
"Sounds right. In your human form your eyesight will include more colors than when you're in your wolf. The wolf will detect motion and light better. But red is attention grabbing no matter what form you're in."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Hunting maybe. Ewen and Nati think it has something to do with the hunt but I think it's just a part of being a werewolf no explanation needed. It just is."
~~o0o~~
Hardison lay awake in his bed waiting for Parker. She'd gone out on a girls night with Zoe and some of their friends but he couldn't sleep until he knew she was home.
Parker snuck into the room silent as the thief she was.
"Did you girls have a good time?" He twitched the bed cover's back on her side of the bed.
"Yes."
He could see her smile. He watched as she slid the shoulder straps of her dress down and appreciated the way her skin almost sparkled in the moon light.
"Can you see me?" She looked over her shoulder in his direction
"I was just admiring how pretty you are in the moon light."
She smiled and slid the zipper on her dress down. "I can't see you, but that makes this…I don't know. Fun." She shrugged.
"Well I can tell you that I'm enjoying watching you. But I'd much rather have you closer."
She padded silently to the edge of the bed. She slipped one arm free of the dress and held her hand out toward him.
He took her hand and tugged at her until she bent so that he could kiss her.
Standing again she brushed her hair away from her face. "I heard you and Eliot talking earlier and…"
He could feel her excitement. "And?"
"And I got you a present." She frowned a little. "Sophie said it would be a present for you but it's mine so…" She shrugged again.
Advice from the grifter had occasionally been badly misinterpreted so Hardison was both intrigued and concerned.
Parker slipped her other arm free of the dress and with a little wiggle slipped the dress down past her hips before she stepped out of it.
Hardison couldn't do more than stare for a moment. Parker was wearing red lingerie that he'd never seen her in before. He swallowed hard. "She was right momma. That's one amazing present." He sat up against the headboard.
Parker smiled. "I'm glad you like it."
He took her hand and pulled her onto his lap. "If you had wolfy night-vision you would see the goofy grin on my face and you would know I more than like it."
She wiggled against him. "Oh, I can tell."
